Republic Services releases 2030 sustainability goals

Republic Services, Phoenix, has announced its sustainability strategy, which includes seven goals designed to address global macrotrends related to the company's sustainability risks and opportunities.

"2018 was a milestone year for Republic Services as we marked the achievement of our time bound sustainability goals,” says Donald W. Slager, CEO of Republic Services. “We're setting an even higher bar by establishing 2030 goals that we believe have the potential to significantly benefit the environment and society while continuing to strengthen the foundation of our business. The Republic team's commitment to innovation and passion for our Blue Planet [goals] will serve as the engines propelling us forward to achieve more than ever before."

Blue Planet 2030 goals include:

• Zero employee fatalities and reduce OSHA Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) to 2.0 or less;
• achieve and maintain employee engagement scores at or above 88 percent;
• reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 35 percent;
• increase recovery of key materials by 40 percent on a combined basis;
• increase biogas sent to beneficial reuse by 50 percent; and
• positively impact 20 million people.

The company says it took a comprehensive approach to the development of its new sustainability goals. This assessment included an analysis of global trends, identification of business model dependencies and engagement with key stakeholders. Republic Services says it is committing to increased transparency and reporting, starting with its 2018 Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Report and an expanded 2018 Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Report. 

"We've aligned our new, more ambitious set of sustainability goals with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals that are important to our business and where we foresee the greatest opportunity to create value at scale," says Pete Keller, vice president of recycling and sustainability at Republic Services.